Green Travellers

“Summer is like childhood; full of warm memories and gone too soon”

Carlone thermal waterfall (it. Cascata del Carlone) is quite small but very scenic waterfall in Italy. Maybe not the waterfall itself, but given its remote location deep in the wild and beautiful mountains around, it was one of the highlights of our holiday in Italy. I already visited quite a few impressive waterfalls but somehow, this little one managed to steal the most room in my heart! And I promised that I will come back there again and again.

The road to get up to the mountains is very narrow and winding. There is no official parking in a village but villagers welcomed us very warmly and showed where we can leave our car by their house. It took approximately 20 min walking from the village to get to the waterfall and the path was narrow and rocky, but the scenes were amazing!

After 20 min we reached the beautiful Carlone waterfall. At its foot, there is a small pond of thermal water. Carlone water torrent is thermal because of the high concentration of salt. Apparently, in the 11th century, the monks from a nearby convent used it to cure skin diseases!

As it was my mum’s birthday, we had a picnic there and stayed for all day, while girls were splashing in thermal waters and just enjoying great outdoors.

The way back home is quite challenging too, but our girls are quite experienced travellers already and take challenges with an enthusiasm! Then they climbed up the hill they were very proud of themselves and I was happy, that it was easier than I thought.

This beautiful wild place holds a very special place in my heart. I feel very blessed I am able to travel and to visit so many wonderful places around the world -art, culture and architecture. However, sometimes simple places are the most magical. See with your heart!

Standing on The Top of Europe (Jungfraujoch) 3,454 metres above sea level, you can feel it with your first step: this is a different world. It’s one you have to experience! My little one was screaming out loud her joy! With icy air streams across your face, crunchy snow under your feet and breathtaking views The Top of Europe Mountains experience was the highlight of our holiday. The experience I will never forget.

The Top of Europe is a high-altitude building located in the Alps in Switzerland. The building is surrounded by glaciers and eternal snow fascinates everyone! It is located in between the well-known mountains Mönch and Jungfrau and the only way to get there is the train. Train and snow – two things needed to ensure my daughter has an unforgettable experience! But believe me, this time adults too were speechless too. The train station is the highest one in Europe! We started our trip from Grindelwald train station and were enjoying the view through the window. You can see how the view is getting more and more wintery in the photos!

Grindelwald. If you are planning to visit the Top of Europe, I would recommend staying in Grindelwald. You can stay in these amazing traditional Swiss houses as in the picture above for a very decent price – it was even cheaper than our apartment rent in Zurich! I wish we knew about these wonderful houses before the trip!

The train trip takes more than an hour but it doesn’t feel long at all when you are enjoying these amazing scenes through the window. It makes you forget about the time and you feel completely disconnected. However, last bit of the trip is in the tunnel and when you step out from the train on The Top of Europe. This is an amazing experience for people who are in love with mountains and nature in general. It is perfectly suitable for parents with young children too, so it’s a perfect family holiday destination!

If you are planning to go there…Check the weather forecast as there’s no point in going up if the Jungfraujoch is covered in clouds – you won’t see any beauty around! We were very lucky with the amazing sunny day! Also, dress in multiple layers so that you can adapt to the different temperatures throughout the day – it was very warm in Grindelwald and freezing cold in the mountains!

I honestly recommend taking this experience! It was the highlight of our holiday and well worth the costs! Even though this experience isn’t cheap but if you are in Swiss I don’t think there is something better than this! By the way, it’s free for kids under 6 years old.

National Trust is a UK charity organisation dedicated to protecting historic places and green spaces. Although the focus of a national trust may vary by region, the principal role is to ensure the preservation of historically significant items, to conserve areas of natural beauty and keep them open them to the public. Every time I say our family has a National Trust Membership I hear the same question – ‘Is it really Worth it?‘ Well, after 3 years of being a member I can – With no doubts, yes! And here are main reasons.

National Trust – Is Always a Good Idea!

Since having a daughter I’ve always felt the need to get out and about on a weekend: to get a quality family time, to make some memories together, to get some fresh air, enjoy the outdoors as much as possible and simply recharge for a new week. The key is to find a balance between something interesting not only for children but for parents too, so we all can have a fun time. This is when I really feel our National Trust membership is worth the money! It’s not only fun, it’s educational too. We enjoy exploring historical properties and museums, walking in charming gardens and a peaceful cup of coffee while the little one is playing in the play area. Believe me, when I say they have amazing play areas for kids!

When you are NT member the best thing is that no big planning needed for family days out. If we feel like going out we simply do it! Membership allows us to just drop in spontaneously and enjoy for an hour or two without feeling pressured to spend the full day.

Membership Saves Money

We all know, visiting historical properties is really expensive. Let’s make some calculations. For example, a family ticket to visit my favourite NT place Tyntesfield costs £36.80 plus £3 car park ticket – nearly £40 for one visit. A Family Membership costs approximately £10 per month and you can visit the unlimited number of properties. Even if we would go once a month or once in two months, it’s worth to be a member! Plus, members get a sticker for a free car park. Also, if we are away on a holiday, we actively seek to visit some local National Trust properties – as it doesn’t cost anythig, it makes our holiday cheaper. On top of that, you can always get some discounts here and there – for example in this amazing Exmouth Countryside Campsite.

Supporting a Protection of Historical Places and Countryside

And finally, National Trust is a self funding charity organisation and relies on and rely for income on membership fees, donations and revenue raised from our commercial operations. If you enjoy visiting properties and being outdoors then the membership is great value but for us, the value was as much about supporting the Trusts care for historical buildings and countryside. So we won both ways. I feel it is important to support National Trust in order to preserve all these archaeological remains, woodlands, forests, farmland, moorland, islands, gardens and even villages for future generations.

On a Final Note…

Before you apply for a membership it’s worth checking out what they have local to you. We are lucky to have so many amazing places around Bristol like Tynstesfield, Dyrham and Prior Park Landscape & Garden in Bath. However, there are over 500 historic houses, castles, ancient monuments gardens and parks and nature reserves to explore, so you’re bound to be close to one or two. Each is also so large, with different features and often has bespoke, seasonal events going on (like our last year Egg Hunt in Dyrham) so it’s unlikely you’ll ever get bored. It also runs the 50 Things campaign, which encourages children to get outside and connect with nature.

For us, the National Trust membership is worth the money and easily pays itself durin the couse of the year, therefore we honestly reccomend it for all Green Travellers!

The time spent in the Yurts Village with no doubts was the highlight of our summer holiday in Lithuania. The atmosphere there is simply magical – so peaceful, so relaxing. After few days we spent there I felt completely recharged as if I was on holiday for a week!

As every destination on Green Travellers, Yurts Village review is based on 3 Green Travellers leaves: Sustainability leaf, Nature leaf and Family leaf.

The Yurts village recreation area is eco-friendly, located in the regional park, on the shore of Lake Medinis. Yurts are made of natural materials: wood and wool, so they harmoniously blend into the natural landscape. Equipped with WC, shower, mini kitchen and fireplace yurts look very cosy inside! And the best thing is that all this area is completely surrounded by nature. All yurts provide rooms with a view – you can see the lake from every yurt. As area is surrounded by beautiful forest you can enjoy foraging. We managed to find some blueberries, spotted a woodpecker and in the evening a hedgehog has visited us!

There are so many things to do with family and kids! We spent our days enjoying the sauna, swimming in the lake, playing volleyball and other beach games. I was very excited to try a paddling board! It is a child-friendly place as they have a special safe swimming area for kids and outdoor play area. In the evening we had BBQ (these are provided together with the wood for the fire) and enjoyed our food outdoors on the terrace.

I was looking for a peaceful place to spend some quality time with my parents. We don’t get much time together, so every moment is precious. However, the time in yurts was amazing and even better than I expected! We just had a time of our lives. So so amazing!

As they say – Better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times! So here is a short video from our time in yurts, enjoy it!

If you are looking for an eco-friendly holiday destination to spend some quality time with your family, I would highly recommend Yurts Village (Jurtų Kaimas), which is 100% approved by Green Travellers!

We all know camping is a fantastic activity for kids and adults, providing hours of enjoyment and a welcome opportunity to connect with loved ones, as well as nature. That’s why our family goes for a camping every summer! Last weekend we spent in Exmouth Country Campsite – disconnected, offline but with fresh unplugged senses.

The campsite is divided into 3 parts. One side is for lodges and bar, where you can get some drinks and coffee in the morning but no food is served there. In the same building are free showers, toilets and vegetable washing area and drinking water points.

The other part of the campsite is with available electricity and the last area, where we stayed, is completely wild zone. It was quite empty so we had a lot of space for kids to run, play and ride a bike.

We were simply walking on the beach and admiring impressive cliffs. Kids were playing with water and sand, collected shells and met crabs for the very first time! My husband has claimed there his birthday present – WakeBoarding experience. As I say – it’s always worth to invest in experiences rather than things!

When’s the last time you slept under the stars and cooked dinner over an open fire?

We spent only two nights in a campsite but it was enough to recharge my battery. Nature is a miraculous healer! And such an excitement for kids! My daughter was so excited to sleep in the tent! So many new experiences for her. If you never been camping with kids – add it to your Must Do list!